Just as Feng Qiyuan turned to walk out, the pale-faced youth sent a voice transmission to the young woman beside him with a smile.
"There's no need to scold him. Weren't we just as confused when we heard the Sect Master's voice transmission earlier?"
"Senior Brother, what does the Sect Master mean by this? Why isn't he coming to accept a disciple personally? This is a Heaven Spirit Root. With time, she will surely become one of the sect's most elite disciples," the young woman replied via voice transmission.
Just before Feng Qiyuan came in, the three of them had been discussing this very matter, not understanding why the Sect Master had suddenly sent a voice transmission saying, "They shall decide the future of this Heaven Spirit Root disciple themselves."
"Alas, it must be related to those other sects, right? But logically, they shouldn't neglect such a prodigy." The pale-faced youth sighed.
"Who cares? Since the Sect Master said we can take her, isn't that even better? It's settled then, that Heaven Spirit Root will enter my tutelage. I wonder if the other senior and junior brothers will try to snatch her away if they find out," the sturdy man said nonchalantly.
Junior Sister Shen and Senior Brother Zhu exchanged a glance and shook their heads helplessly. This martial brother of theirs couldn't care less about anything other than artifact refining and cultivation.
At that moment, Feng Qiyuan had already led the six people into the courtyard.
...
Li Yan arrived at the entrance of a small courtyard carrying a small bundle. He waved the four-pointed star token in his hand, and the restriction on the courtyard gate opened. Li Yan then stepped inside.
The courtyard was not large and resembled the courtyards of other cultivators Li Yan had seen before, with a stone table and four stone stools. Behind the courtyard, there was only a single row of two rooms facing the gate. Li Yan walked inside. With another wave of his token, the restriction at the courtyard gate reactivated, isolating him from the outside.
Li Yan carried his small bundle and looked through the two rooms before returning to the courtyard. One was a cultivation room, the other a resting room. The contents were extremely simple. The cultivation room had nothing but a meditation cushion. The resting room had a bed, a table, a chair, a cabinet for storing items, and a tea set on the table, and nothing else.
Li Yan didn't start cleaning immediately. Instead, he walked back into the courtyard and, with a sweep of his sleeve, brushed the dust off the stone stools and table. He placed the bundle in his hand on the stone table and then sat down on one of the stools.
The bundle was what he had received from the Hall of Deacons and had been carrying all along. He didn't have a storage pouch, or at least, on the surface, he didn't. He needed to sort out his thoughts.
In the courtyard at the front of the valley, Li Yan and the others had been tested again by the three Foundation Establishment cultivators, mainly to assess their knowledge of plants and their ability to control fire-type arts.
In the end, much to the dissatisfaction of the sturdy man, the Heaven Spirit Root girl named Feng Tao, who had been fond of alchemy since she was young, showed a surprising familiarity with plants. She was ultimately accepted as a disciple by the pale-faced youth. The three-element Earth Spirit Root boy, Tian Denghu, on the other hand, preferred artifact refining and became a disciple of the sturdy man. In terms of their actual spirit root attributes, it would have been more satisfying if they had swapped, but that was a matter of personal choice. The Human Clan placed great importance on Immortal Fortune; if you were not fated for something, you could not force it.
As for the remaining four, including Li Yan and the three-element Earth Spirit Root youth who lacked fire and wood attributes, none of them were accepted as disciples by a Foundation Establishment cultivator for the time being. This was the outcome Li Yan had hoped for most.
The four of them were then taken to the Hall of Deacons by Feng Qiyuan, where they were instructed on the main sect rules and regulations and each received some items. They were then required to complete the first layer of a cultivation method they were given within one month. If they could pass this assessment, they would enter the Inner Sect and become official disciples of Falling Star Valley. At that time, perhaps other Foundation Establishment martial uncles would be willing to take them as disciples. Otherwise, they would have to cultivate on their own in the sect.
If they failed the assessment, they would be assigned to the Outer Sect to do miscellaneous tasks until they could retake the assessment the following month. If they failed three consecutive times, they could leave Falling Star Valley on their own. However, the cultivation manual they had learned would be erased from their minds, just as it was when they first arrived outside Falling Star Valley.
After spending about half an incense stick's worth of time in the Hall of Deacons and learning the most basic information about Falling Star Valley, Li Yan and the others were each assigned a courtyard. No matter how low a cultivator's rank, they would not be willing to live with others, as there would be no privacy. Most importantly, it would be impossible to cultivate. You couldn't be meditating and circulating your Qi while constantly having to keep your Divine Sense out to watch the person next to you. Therefore, even the smallest immortal cultivation sect would provide you with a separate cultivation environment. As for how good the environment was and how dense the spiritual energy was, that could only be determined by your status.
All four of them were assigned to this area. Although the restrictions and formations were all in place, the density of the spiritual energy could only be described as sparse. However, for low-level Qi Condensation cultivators, it was barely enough.
"The places assigned to Tian Denghu and Feng Tao must have spiritual energy that is many times better than here. Among those of the same rank, it will also increase their cultivation speed by several tenths."
Li Yan knew this without even thinking. Those two had been directly accepted as disciples by Foundation Establishment cultivators; their situations were bound to be different. They weren't like him, a cultivator with four spirit roots whom no one was "interested" in, at least no Foundation Establishment cultivator would take the initiative to accept him as a disciple.
However, this was precisely the result Li Yan wanted most. He had only understood Falling Star Valley from the outside. He couldn't know the specifics within the sect just by listening. After entering the valley, he needed a period of time to comprehensively and carefully understand it, and then carefully plan step by step how to get close to the Earth Fire Spirit Vein.
Thinking of those two, Li Yan inevitably thought of the girl named Feng Tao.
"A disciple with Heaven Spirit Root aptitude, why wasn't she valued by the sect? It seems she was casually accepted as a disciple by a Foundation Establishment cultivator. This is just a second-rate sect, isn't it? Could it be that the number of cultivators on the Forsaken Continent is staggering, and although Heaven Spirit Roots are rare, there are still many of them? Or is the sect giving this prodigy a show of force to test her state of mind?"
Li Yan was still grumbling about this inwardly. When he saw Feng Tao being accepted as a disciple by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was speechless. It wasn't that he was being nosy, but Falling Star Valley's actions made him suspect that some of the information he had obtained was wrong. Even the Malevolent Spirit Sect wouldn't do something like this. This matter made Li Yan feel that Falling Star Valley was very unfamiliar to him. How could he dare to casually use the plans he had made before?
"I still need to observe for some more time. Let's hope this sect doesn't have a terrifying expert hidden away."
The current Sect Master of Falling Star Valley, a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, was someone Li Yan had to avoid from a great distance. The expert he was thinking of was a Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator like Wei Zhongran, who far surpassed his peers. Or even the legendary Great Elder of Falling Star Valley, that late-stage Golden Core expert. If he had some powerful means or had even concealed his cultivation, Li Yan could be secretly targeted without even knowing it.
After going over this matter in his mind, since there were some things he couldn't figure out, Li Yan didn't dwell on them.
Li Yan casually opened the bundle on the stone table. Inside were two sets of green robes, a bottle of low-grade Spirit-Gathering Liquid, three low-grade Spirit Stones, a small wooden sword, two defensive talismans that flickered with a faint light, and two jade slips.
"Falling Star Valley isn't too generous to its new disciples, but it's not too shabby either."
Looking at these items that were now given to him, items he wouldn't even bother to pick up if they were thrown on the street, Li Yan still casually picked up one of the jade slips. With a light sweep of his Divine Sense, the five large characters "Shattered Star Ice-Fire Manual" appeared in his mind. Fortunately, the script used here was the common script among cultivators; otherwise, Li Yan would have had to find a way to learn it.
This was an introductory Qi-refining cultivation method, with only the first two layers. Li Yan quickly read through both layers.
"This is a manual specifically for cultivating wood and fire spirit roots. This means that the youth without these two attributes must have been given a different cultivation method. From this, I can also know that his future assessment will definitely be different from mine."
Just from the cultivation method's jade slip, Li Yan quickly thought of a few things. This was one of the few pieces of information he had obtained from these items. It wasn't that Li Yan was being overly meticulous, but he had always been as careful as a strand of hair. The moment he saw the cultivation method's jade slip, he couldn't help but come up with many speculations. He had always believed that having more information was always a good precaution.
"This Shattered Star Ice-Fire Manual doesn't seem to be an ordinary introductory cultivation method. Its augmenting effect on the later stages of wood and fire systems is quite significant."
Li Yan recited the manual's incantations in his mind again. He could see some things; this cultivation method should become more powerful in the later stages. Although it was only the first two layers of the incantation, the path of spirit power circulation was still very complicated, requiring many minor meridians to be opened. From Li Yan's experience, these minor meridians had very limited attack power for Qi Condensation cultivators, almost negligible. So even if these minor meridians were opened, after cultivating these two layers of the method, it wouldn't bring much effect.
Li Yan also couldn't see the use of these minor meridians from the first two layers of the method. This could only mean that opening these meridians was to lay a foundation for the later stages. At the same time, without the subsequent parts of the "Shattered Star Ice-Fire Manual," outsiders who obtained these two layers would gain limited benefits. On the contrary, each cultivation session would consume much more time to circulate the heavenly cycle, unless that person switched to another cultivation method in the future, and that method happened to overlap with some of the opened side meridians. Only then would the painstaking cultivation not be in vain.
"This cultivation method is mainly for alchemy and artifact refining, but it also has a considerable bonus to fire and wood immortal art attacks!"
Li Yan could see some things, but without the subsequent incantations of the cultivation method, this was all he could see.
"The founding ancestor of Falling Star Valley must have been a strong figure among the Human Clan. It's a pity I can't see the later incantations for now, so I can't make a true judgment."
Li Yan felt that the "Shattered Star Ice-Fire Manual" should be a mid-tier cultivation method, but the cultivation process should be relatively long, not a fierce and domineering path, but a gentle and long-lasting one.
Of course, he himself would not actually cultivate it. With his miscellaneous spirit root aptitude, even if he wanted to cultivate it, it wouldn't have much effect. But he would still try to circulate it according to the incantations. After all, he needed to know the feeling and signs of cultivating the "Shattered Star Ice-Fire Manual." Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to fool them during the assessment. He couldn't cultivate the "Shattered Star Ice-Fire Manual" to a profound level, but with his current strength, he could definitely master the first few introductory layers.
As for the new disciples, if they didn't want to cultivate the "Shattered Star Ice-Fire Manual" and continued to cultivate their original methods, would that be acceptable? The Hall of Deacons had told them clearly at the time.
"Of course, no problem. It's just that the content of the assessment will be direct control over spiritual fire. If you can't even meet the most basic requirements for fire control, you'll still be sent to the Outer Sect to await arrangements!"